Step Sixty-One, Play For Keeps
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1275a. After asking Blaine to meet him at the Lima Bean, Kurt does what he can not to over worry about what might happen when he meets Harry. - Paper Heart series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 60th cycle. Now cycle 61!_

* * *

_**This is a shift day. **There are two updates today._

* * *

**"Step Sixty-One, Play For Keeps"  
(Brittany &) Kurt, Harry (OC), Blaine  
Paper Heart series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

Harry had woken up again just as Kurt had taken his seat at the Lima Bean. He had hesitated as to whether he should get himself something right away or if he should wait for Blaine to arrive. If he waited, it might look like he expected this to be a date, which he didn't. But if he didn't wait, then what would he think?

"I'm kind of nervous right now," he admitted, looking to Harry in his stroller. "That's okay, alright?"

Nervous was putting it mildly. Scared out of his mind was more accurate. He had looked at the time and at the door so many times he was getting a neck cramp. He was prepared for rejection, or at least he'd tell himself that. If it actually happened, he had no clue how that would really feel…

"Kurt, hey." He blinked and looked up, throat closing. He stood up, slowly regaining his voice.

"Hi. I wasn't sure if I should get something yet, or, well…" The stroller at his side had a way of drawing the eye. "This is Harry," he indicated the baby. Blaine smiled, crouching to get a look at him.

"You should have told me you had to watch your brother, we could have done this another…"

"He's not my brother," he clarified, having expected the misunderstanding. "He's my son."

He watched the realization play over Blaine's face, like someone might watch the last second of a tied game at any sport. Blaine had heard the word, then he'd processed it. He looked back down to Harry, then to Kurt again before he sat down.

"I had no idea," he shook his head. Kurt sat back down.

"I know."

"How'd you… I mean…" he caught himself.

"I had a bit of an identity crisis, about a year ago. I got a girlfriend, or…" he gave half-hearted air quotes. "One night in my basement and then…" he looked to Harry. "I got through it, but then I found out about the pregnancy. She wanted to keep him, and so did I. Who knew if I'd ever get the chance again, like this." He paused, to let it all sink in. "I didn't want to lie about him, so here we are."

"He looks like you," was Blaine's reply, and Kurt knew he wouldn't run.

"Sort of, some parts. He's got a lot of Brittany though. That's his mother."

"I figured," Blaine nodded, and Kurt could have smacked himself. "How old is he?"

"Six weeks already."

"Oh, I'm completely forgetting, I'll go get us something," Blaine stood, taking off his jacket and placing it on the back of his chair.

"Right, hang on," Kurt reached in his pocket.

"Don't, it's my treat," Blaine insisted. It would have been rude to argue, so he told him what he wanted and watched him go.

He could only take this as a good sign. His reaction told Kurt that, no matter where things went with them, Blaine would at the very least be a great friend to have.

Blaine had returned with their order a few minutes later. Kurt was short one hand, as his fingers were occupied in the grip of his son.

"Here, I got it," Blaine offered, fixing his coffee for him.

"Thanks. I'd let go, but he'd scream bloody murder," Kurt explained.

"No problem," Blaine smirked. "So people at your school, they know about him?"

"They do," Kurt nodded.

"How's that going?" Blaine asked sympathetically.

"Well…" Kurt chuckled. "In the beginning, Brittany tried to shield me. No one knew I was the father. But I wasn't going to let them make fun of her and just stand by. So I had another kind of a coming out. I told them it was me. Since then, I've come to the conclusion that so long as I remember that they're not going to change who I am or how I feel, about my kid, then they can't touch me, whatever they say."

"That's good," Blaine nodded with a smile.

"I'm really glad you called," Kurt had to say it, while they were being honest. "I was hoping you would."

"Well, you know you can call me, too," Blaine pointed out.

"Yeah, except for…" he looked to Harry.

"But now I know, so if you want to talk…"

"I'll make a note of it," Kurt replied, wondering if there was more meaning to this than was being said.

Was Blaine saying without saying it that he was interested in him? No, he was getting ahead of himself, they barely knew each other, and he'd just told him he had a child. Blaine was as young as he was, why would he want to get saddled with a kid if he didn't have to? It sounded bad, but it was true. He wouldn't have sought this out for himself if it hadn't happened.

"Guess we'll be seeing each other at Sectionals soon," Kurt mentioned, the thought came to him as he caught the tail end of a Journey song on the radio.

"We will," Blaine nodded.

"Brittany hates that she can't be there, but she's only coming back to school after the Christmas break, so…"

"Oh, is she the tall blonde one?" Blaine asked.

"How'd you know that?" Kurt was surprised.

"I may have looked you guys up," Blaine admitted, and Kurt felt his heart leap.

"You did?"

"I had to, you guys are the competition… And I was curious," he admitted.

"So what's the verdict?" Kurt asked. Blaine smiled, thinking.

"Decent adversaries, not to be written off," he declared. "Also, I think you could have been a great Warbler."

"I take that as a compliment," Kurt smiled.

"Good, because that's what it was," Blaine raised his cup to him before taking a sip.

"We probably shouldn't talk about Glee Club then. Might be considered fraternizing with the enemy…"

"Right," Blaine agreed, resettling in his seat. "There's plenty to talk about instead."

"Such as?"

"Such as… you. Tell me something I don't know," he requested.

"Because the fact that I have a child wasn't enough?" Kurt joked.

"You're more than a father, aren't you?"

"I am," Kurt couldn't help but smile.

"Then I'm sure you can think of something."

They had talked for over an hour. Kurt would talk about himself, as would Blaine. They had left having learned many things about each other.

The greatest thing Kurt had learned was that Blaine Anderson was his friend and maybe one day he could be more.

THE END

* * *

******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


End file.
